Michael Moore's Master Plan to Bring Down Donald Trump

The liberal firebrand sits down with GQ for a wide-ranging conversation about his ideas for pushing back against the Trump presidency.

When Donald Trump was elected to the presidency in November, few people had greater cause to gloat—and less reason to be happy about it—than liberal author, documentarian, and commentator Michael Moore, who famously predicted that Trump would win nearly a year ago, when the vast majority of liberals were still laughing at the very concept of a Trump presidency.

As it turns out, Moore’s prescience also gave him an edge—a months-long head start on thinking about how best to oppose the Trump presidency. "His Achilles’ heel is his very, very, very thin skin," said Moore at a press conference on Monday. "So we need to have a sort of non-violent comedy shiv."

That "non-violent comedy shiv" is finally taking shape in Moore’s latest project: A semi-improvised Broadway show called The Terms of My Surrender, which will debut at the Belasco Theatre on July 28. "It’s a 12-week limited run," Moore said. "I guess I would like Trump to have the same thing."

The Terms of My Surrender is built around a single, provocative question: Can a Broadway show bring down a sitting president? To answer it, Moore’s show will offer a daily venue for his trademark topical humor and political commentary, with the promise of special guests and surprises throughout the run. "Michael will be responding to the news of the day—so every evening, the show is going to be different in certain ways," said director Michael Mayer. He also implied that the show might include the occasional field trip: "There might be some impromptu excursions after the show. To places that might be nearby." (For what it’s worth, the Belasco Theatre is a mere 12 blocks away from Trump Tower.)

And should Trump ever decide to come to the Belasco Theatre to see the show for himself, Moore has insisted on a standing reservation for the theater’s presidential box, in case any members of the Trump or Pence families turn up to see him perform. "I hope he comes to see it. Or his family. Or the vice president. We won’t boo them," Moore promises.

Moore sat down with GQ for a discussion about The Terms of My Surrender, the Trump presidency, and his thoughts on where American politics might be heading next.

Let’s begin with the obvious question: Can a Broadway show bring down a sitting president?
Well, I’d like to think so. We’re going to find out. A boy can dream, right?

It’s ambitious.
Yeah, more liberals need to be a little more ambitious. Come on, let’s go! All hands on deck! This is me doing my part. But it’s not just a political thing. If, at the very least, we can give people 90 exhilarating minutes after they’ve worked hard all week, and they leave energized and excited—that, in and of itself, is worthy of what we’re doing. What if more filmmakers, and more people who write plays or produce TV shows, had that thought in mind? If they cared enough about the audience, and believe that what we’re doing is valuable to them? The majority of what used to be called "the middle class" now lives from paycheck to paycheck. Those who make movies—and do plays, television, whatever—those who keep that in mind will produce better work.

So why do this particular show on Broadway, which will necessarily limit the audience who can consume it?
What do you mean by "limit the audience"?

Well, people have to buy tickets, and there are only so many seats in the theater. And attendees have to be in the New York area. As opposed to a documentary, or a TV show…
Well, people come to New York. We want them to come to New York. They should come to New York. It’s why we’re doing it in the summer. And you have to buy a book. You have to buy a ticket to anything. But the Shuberts and the producers have been very gracious. I think every seat in the balcony is $27, and there’s other lower-priced tickets, so everyone can afford to go.

One of the things you gain with this format is versatility. In real time—and unlike any of your films or books—you’ll be getting the chance to respond to a president who seems to be saying something new and unpredictable every single day.
Right. For instance: The night he decided to launch 59 Tomahawks into Syria, he talked more about the great chocolate cake he ate. So I can see—for instance, I’m just making this up—but the next night, at the Belasco Theatre, everyone gets a little piece of chocolate cake, to celebrate the importance of American chocolate cake in trying to make the world a better place.

The show is a living, breathing thing. Any show is, really. If you talk to anybody—even actors in a play where you cannot deviate one word from it—they’ll say that each night is its own show—in large part, because of the audience. If you’ve seen a show more than once, you know what I’m talking about. Sometimes, you’ll go see it a second time—and it’s not a completely different show, but it’s a completely different experience.

For better or worse, you’re now treated as a prognosticator, because you were so far ahead of most liberals on Trump being elected. So, honestly: How do you think this will end?
I think that if we throw enough Republicans out of the House of Representatives next year, that will scare the Republicans in such a way that they will no longer feel any loyalty to him. In fact, they will see him as their death. And they will start to take care of him. If I were to predict anything, I think that’s what’s going to happen.

"If I could change two things about the American political system, I would lower the voting age to 16 and have elections on Saturdays and Sundays."

And what are the steps leading up to that? Does it happen on a grassroots level?
Absolutely. That’s the only way it happens. People have to keep going to the Town Halls. People have to run for office. I’ll give you an example. My sister sent me this last night. She got this appeal: Send three dollars to elect so-and-so as Detroit’s city clerk. And it’s like, 'Really?' But then she read on, and it explained that tens of thousands of Detroiters didn’t really get their ballots counted because the machines broke down. The machines are so old that people gave up standing in line. We only lost Michigan by 10,000 votes. And there are more than 10,000 votes in Detroit. They didn’t get counted, or people didn’t vote. So the city clerk is important. We have to care about these small offices, these local offices, because they have a national impact. People need to think about running for city council, city clerk, county commissioner, school board.

Everybody’s got to stand up now and get involved. People were saying, after the election, "[Trump] said he’s not going to do anything about gay marriage. He’s not going to appoint Supreme Court people who are going to get rid of that." During the campaign, he actually spoke out against the transgender bathroom law in North Carolina. But once he’s in, boom—switcheroo on North Carolina. Nobody should feel safe. Don’t be sitting around, thinking Ivanka’s gonna say, "Now Dad, don’t go after the gays." I think anybody who’s half-awake right now knows that everyone is at risk. And if it’s not you, it’s a family member. It’s your neighbor. It’s your coworker. Everybody has to be in the pool. All hands on deck. You cannot sit on the bench for this one.

One of the unique and frustrating challenges about living under this particular presidency is that it’s so hard to guess what might come next, because there doesn’t really seem to be a plan. When you look for consistency or predictability in the policies coming out of the Trump administration…
They change within 45 minutes. This is crazy time. You know, I was on Chris Hayes the other night, on MSNBC. And he said to me, "Well, at least you’re rooting for Trump on North Korea." And I said, "No!" He said, "What do you mean?" And I said, "It’s like: If I was driving down the highway, and passing me by was a six-year-old driving a car—you wouldn’t say, 'I’m going to root for that kid!'" I’m not rooting for any six-year-old behind the wheel of a car, no matter how much he stays between the lanes on the road. And that’s the situation we have right now. There’s no rooting for this, because there’s nothing to hang onto. What does he believe in? The man has no belief system. Except the belief in Donald J. Trump. Well, this country wasn’t founded on the ideology of a belief in Donald J. Trump.

You’ve gone deep on so many issues over the course of your career: gun control, the Bush administration, health care, and so on. But if you could change just one thing about the American political apparatus—the thing you think could do the most good—what would it be?
I would lower the voting age to 16, and I would have elections on Saturdays and Sundays. I would let young people have a say in what’s going to happen to them as adults, and I would try to increase voter participation by allowing people to vote without missing any part of a work day. Those are the first two things that come to my head. Those things aren’t usually discussed, but more and more countries now—Austria, Scotland, Brazil, Nicaragua—have lowered the voting age to 16. And in just about every other democracy, the elections are either on the weekend, or Election Day is a holiday, to increase voter turnout.